E27 Unconference Singapore 2008 – Impressions

So instead of wasting this Saturday on sleeping and lazing around, I hauled my backside over to the E27 Unconference at Biopolis in Singapore. This was my first time and I was curious to find out how such unconferences worked. I liked the general casualness of the whole affair – pretty good food, swag, Guitar Hero contests and a lot of young guys building cool products.

A lot of the products on display were very impressive and I was fortunate enough to talk to the guys behind them and it’s very inspiring to see guys going the extra mile to solve everyday problems. Here are some tidbits:

homespace.sg : Another very useful web-app (not for me particularly, but I can see it being used widely). This one is built on Ruby On Rails, Prototype and a sprinkling of Flash.

widgeo.us : I still haven’t got the concept yet, but from what was demoed it seemed an intriguingly good idea. Couldn’t get a chance to speak to the guys behind it, but would really like to know what they use to power instant messaging.

qweki.com : Another slightly confusing product, but from what I understood it is a service along the lines of Mahalo (customized search results). On the negative side, it had a pretty bad UI.

podfire.sg : Didn’t know there was a video podcasting network in Singapore and even though the current crop of shows is very limited (and doesn’t really appeal to me) I will keep an eye out for interesting ones in future.

The Microsoft Keynote : Don’t get me wrong, the talk did have some interesting view points. What bugged me was how the speaker was using it as a platform to promote Microsoft products. This, despite the fact that Microsoft are clearly late-comers in realizing the value of the so-called trends that he discussed – user experience, collaboration and cloud-computing.

More Rockstars, Less Groupies : I would definitely have liked to see more ideas and products. Even if there isn’t a monetization plan, a business plan and an exit strategy, people should be encouraged to build stuff anyway and worry about making money later. The E27 event is definitely a big step in the right direction, but at certain points during the event, I got the feeling that the enthusiasm and bubbli-ness was forced. Theguys building stuff must be leading the discussion, not the VCs, the angels and the government.

@michael – Hi Michael, no problem :) Regarding shows, Geek Goddess didn’t really appeal to me (at least the couple shows that I watched). I would like to see a more web-focused show, with a lot more emphasis and discussion on the stuff that is used to build web applications, discussions, new software tools, trends, etc.

Also, since I’m a movie buff, I would like a show with movie previews as well as reviews.

Glad you could make it for the event! I appreciate your thoughts and comments, especially the portion on how we can further improve the event. I think we have some work before local startups actually really focus on building great products and not just chase after business models. GoThere.sg really showed me how a company can make a really awesome product and concentrate on making it great for the users, and not just find a way to monetize it.

Let’s hope that at future events, more of the startup founders will actually run the breakout sessions and be more involved in stirring up discussions :)

Hey @harish – Nope, not an MS basher, I come in peace :) I’m not saying the technology and the presentation wasn’t impressive, but it felt like they were tagging along with the real innovators in the space (Google, Amazon, Apple, etc.) and I felt that to be a little silly.

Regarding the breakouts, I did mention it, but probably not explicitly enough – but I really enjoyed Preetam Rai’s talk on startups in emerging countries.